Citizens Outspending Cops on Prop 19
The campaign to legalize marijuana is attracting much more money than opponents, but Tax Cannabis 2010 backer Richard Lee worries that it might not be enough.
By David Downs
Hundreds of California citizens allied with the state's medical cannabis industry outspent law enforcement establishment by a ratio of five to one on the effort to roll back eighty years of pot prohibition in the now-broke Golden State. Campaign finance reports released last week show Tax Cannabis 2010 received $176,430 in monetary contributions from this period, which covers April 1 to June 30, 2010, and also received $37,609 in non-monetary contributions for a total of $214,040. The drug law reform group has an ending cash balance of $61,933 after expenditures.
Oakland businessperson Richard Lee's Oaksterdam University chipped in at least $40,000 during the reporting period and total overall contributions from the school now total $1.46 million. Medical cannabis groups like Berkeley Patients Group and delivery service The CannyBus also have donated funds. Jeff Wilcox and his marijuana cultivation corporation AgraMed, who pushed for cultivation permits in Oakland, donated to Proposition 19 as well as Councilwoman Nancy Nadel, who gave $125. NORML's Dale Gieringer gave more than $10,000, while George Zimmer of the Men's Warehouse contributed another $500 to his total contributions of $20,500.
The large volume of contributions came from hundreds of regular citizens across the state and country who are employed as teachers and engineers. One Stinson Beach. resident listed his occupation as "alchemist."
California's official law enforcement opposition group, known as Public Safety First, reported about $61,000 in contributions. The largest donors: the California Police Chiefs Association, which gave $30,000, and the California Narcotics Officer's Association, which contributed $20,000. Public Safety First's largest expenditure to date has gone to campaign consultants the Wayne Johnson Agency in Sacramento. Public Safety First has about $18,000 cash on hand. A RAND Corporation study showed California would spend roughly $300 million less on law enforcement and incarceration if it stopped arresting about 60,000 Californians for pot each year.
As previously reported, about $100,000 in new funds supporting Prop 19 has come from an East Coast libertarian who formed the Drug Policy Alliance Network Committee to Tax and Regulate Marijuana. All other groups supporting and opposing Prop 19 did not e-file campaign finance reports, indicating negligible funds.
Lee has said it could take $10 million to wage an advertising campaign on behalf of the measure, which is either winning or losing by a few points, depending on poll methodology. He recently told AlterNet that fund-raising for the campaign was "off-track," and that a one-on-one grassroots campaign would replace costly ad buys.
Cannabis Cash in Mayor's Race
The city of Oakland's mainstreaming of medical marijuana has extended to its mayoral races, where leading cannabis dispensaries, hydroponics stores, and the Prop 19 campaign are showing up in campaign finance disclosures for mayoral candidates Rebecca Kaplan, Jean Quan, and Don Perata.
Tax Cannabis 2010 volunteer coordinator Jennifer Hall donated the maximum personal amount of $700 to Kaplan's campaign, as did Dan Rush of the UFCW Local 5 who recently helped unionize Oaksterdam. Potential Oakland cultivator Jeff Wilcox of AgraMed also donated the maximum of $700 to Kaplan, while dispensary Green Mind Gardens of El Cerrito donated a symbolic $420 and UFCW Local 5's political action committee donated $250.
As for Quan, she received $700 from Oakland hydroponics retailer iGrow. Owner Dhar Mann has also expressed interest in obtaining a coveted cultivation permit.
And longtime Oakland politico Don Perata received $400 this year and $100 last year from SK Seymour LLC, which is Oaksterdam owner Lee's company. Lee also donated $10,000 last year to a cancer initiative set up by Perata. AgraMed employee Martin Kaufman donated $700 this year to the Perata campaign. Interestingly, natural enemies of medical cannabis like cops and pharmaceutical companies also donated to Perata. The Peace Officers Research Association of California gave $1,300 to Perata through their PAC, and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association of America chipped in $600 to Perata's mayoral campaign.
Can 'Just Say Now' Pot The Vote?
A new national campaign to legalize adult use of cannabis launched last week, called "Just Say Now." The DC-based group intends to turn out the youth vote this November in states where marijuana is an issue, including California. 2010 is a midterm election, meaning a significant drop-off in the liberal voters who elected Obama in 2008, but Just Say Now aims to counter that trend by unleashing the group Students for Sensible Drug Policy on college campuses.
Weed may be a wedge issue that turns out youth voters in states where it matters, says This Is Your Country on Drugs author Ryan Grim on the Huffington Post. Additionally, Congressman Barney Frank told The New York Times that national decriminalization/legalization is less than five years away.
Comments (9)
Showing 1-9 of 9
Some people say they are for legalization, but opposed to Prop 19. Do you want to know if Prop 19 is a good idea? Every drug czar that ever was, is strongly against it. That should tell you something.
There has never been a better opportunity than Prop 19 to set things straight. Please vote for it. The day after the election, after Prop 19 is approved by voters, get up and call a friend on how to make it even better. Until then, we need every, single, total vote we can get.
Then the druz czars will just fade into history.
VOTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Yeah.
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Oh ok I missed the 80 gang part. Well that would make sense.... if we didn't have an even larger problem with gangs here in the states. And we're bankrolling them with our cannabis use. 80 gangs in a major metropolitan area is really about par for the course. Don't believe the hype. The sky will not fall. Yes on prop 19!!
The no on prop 19 guy posted pure fiction. A study released just this year compared rates of schizophrenia to rates of cannabis use in the UK over many years. Despite cannabis use skyrocketing in the UK, rates of schizophrenia stayed relatively flat. The loose connection between cannabis and schizophrenia comes from the tendency of those who are developing mental illness to self medicate. The same connection exists with alcohol and pharmaceutical drugs. It is a symptom of mental illness, not the cause. The closure of coffeeshops in Amsterdam was in accordance to regulations on retail sale of cannabis in the Netherlands, the same thing we are attempting to do in California. It is by no means a step towards prohibition. They learned 30 years ago how much of a mistake prohibition is. The federal and many local governments in the Netherlands have made it clear coffeeshops are here to stay. And yes, there are still many coffeshops outside of Amsterdam. The vast majority of the objections over the Dutch cannabis policy comes from prohibitionists outside of the Netherlands. Very few Dutch residents actually use cannabis on a regular basis. In fact cannabis use rates in America and the UK dwarf that of the Dutch, despite cannabis being semi-legal for over 3 decades now. Every major city on the planet has crime, regardless of how vigorously they prosecute the "crime" of marijuana. Notice how they fail to mention specifically what "cannabis related crime" the Dutch are fed up with. The Netherlands has seen an increase in health care costs, but that had absolutely nothing to do with cannabis use there. The same rise in health care costs occurred simultaneously all over the globe (including here in the states) and is a result of the same greedy drug companies that are bankrolling these no on prop 19 guys.
Yes, another recreational drug legalized - and taxed, regulated above ground and not on the black market.
The UK has over 25,000 kids in therapy for schizophrenia due to smoking marijuana and has increased the criminal penalties for both using and selling it. The same with Australia. The Aboriginie population in Australia has been decimated by the abuse of marijuana. The Netherlands have closed over 43 of their coffee houses in Amsterdam (where they allow marijuana smoking) and almost all the coffee houses in the other cities have been closed. They have a terrible crime problem there with over 80 gangs there now. The Dutch Supreme Court recently decided their legal administrator that they can change their laws and tell their so-called coffee shops that they cannot sell marijuana to citizens outside of Holland. The Dutch people are fed up with the issue of marijuana, the crime, and the costs to their pocket books via their healthcare services. With this knowledge, why would anyone with an ounce of commonsense want this garbage legalized in California?
Http://TinyUrl.com/Henningfield-Benowitz
Http://TinyUrl.com/Tashkin
CNOA can FOAD. Cannabis prohibition is a crime against humanity.
Richard P Steeb, San Jose California
@ John Doe: What's wrong with that? Human beings have been using cannabis for thousands of years with very few ill effects. It has inspired some of humanity's most important cultural and intellectual achievements, as well as providing healing and pleasure to millions. Who are you to tell me what I can do with my own body?
Thats right because the wrong ones are legal. I don't smoke, but let's do the math here. Lets make booze and cigarettes illegal because they are addicting and cause severe problems. Pot needs to be legal. China has grown at a rate of 9%. If we don't do something, we are going to go broker than China ever was.
Listen up California, you better have some NORML and MPP people around the head shops carrying around carrying voters registration cards. Set up tables, have them fill them out and mail them in. Then tell them to VOTE!!!! It will be the young voters who carry it, but get everything in place first.
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